So stupid is really my response to the latest flurry of news articles discussing the…Ready for it…RISE in healthcare costs for everyone, government, insurers, consumers. Can’t wait for the spin to avoid declaring the obvious that Obamacare was not healthcare “reform” it was a means of saving government and insurers money by making individuals pay more for healthcare expenses…The Republican argument of “skin in the game” that propelled Obama into office by promising the population something different...protection. It's laughable.
The best line I’ve seen appeared in THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS in an article by Jim Landers, 7/28/2015, “Health spending set to take a larger slice of the economic pie,” where he writes:
“The rise in spending is largely due to a rise in the use of medical care.”
Yep, the insurance dilemma: YOU HAVE IT BUT YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO USE IT.
The article also is worth reading as it explains that the ONLY real thing Obamacare did to slow down GOVERNMENT spending was shifting costs to individuals:
“…changes in cost-sharing between workers and employers as well as more price transparency would continue to slow price and spending increases.” (That’s increases for government, not you and me.)
Oh, and the “Death Panel,” the name given to the INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD that steps in if government spending goes too high which “…health economists said that trigger for the payments board to act would likely be reached in 2017”? After the Obamanuts stop denying its existence, maybe they can start to explain how that Board will cut expenses for the government, recommendations that MUST be carried out absent extraordinary Congressional reaction (which seems unlikely given the mediocrity of our current Congress).
Until Democrats and Republicans stand up and do the easiest thing they can, MANDATE that the government class give up its superior benefits packages and enter the real world, we’ll be mired in double-talking nonsense about health care reform that involves the decimation of the middle class.
That’s one…Put YOUR money where your big mouths are, no more government class privilege.
Second, we should support the availability of health insurance plans that provide discounts for males who right now are charged to help cover the costs of providing free annual checkups for women while not having the same privilege under the ACA. It would be different if all people got a free checkup per year but that’s not the case.
Third, we should support the availability of health insurance plans that provide discounts for males who right now are expected to contribute to pay for cost-free coverage for domestic violence counseling for women since men are not able to get such free service.
Fourth, we should support a mandate to calculate the REAL costs of Obamacare by government not only health-insurance costs only because that switch by the government where only savings of paying less on behalf of sick people is against the public good. In fact, the refusal to calculate what the government is spending on itself to run Affordable Care has made government’s success or failure contingent on spending less on individuals while hiding their own administrative and staffing expenses (including government class benefits for government employees working on Affordable Care for everyone else). This calculation is against the public good because government has no stake in reducing its costs only in reducing how much it pays on behalf of citizens.
Fifth, we should support repeal of the individual mandate tax which is taxation without representation since it compels individuals to PURCHASE a product (insurance) that in many and increasing numbers of cases will NOT protect them in the event of illness.
